Apprenticeships in work-based learning

Empowering young people by expanding and improving apprenticeships. Apprenticeships and other forms of work-based learning help young people make smoother transitions from school to employment. Thus, they are central to the development and implementation of the youth guarantee schemes.

Within the EU policy framework, Cedefop carries out activities across countries and also within single Member States to provide evidence to support policy making at the EU and national levels and to support European cooperation on apprenticeships among Member States.

In line with EU policies, Cedefop supports cooperation at European level among Member States and interacts with individual countries that wish to develop quality apprenticeships.

Since May 2014, Cedefop has carried out Thematic Country Reviews on Apprenticeships in 5 volunteer countries: Lithuania and Malta as part of a first wave (2014-2015); Greece, Italy and Slovenia as part of a second wave (2015-2017). Cedefop is carrying out a third wave of reviews in two more countries, Cyprus and Croatia. In this round, Cedefop has also piloted a lighter version of the TCR on apprenticeships (flash TCRs) in Belgium (French-speaking Community), in addition to Sweden. The flash TCR in Sweden has been concluded and the publication is now available. The reports of the reviews carried out in Cyprus, Croatia and French-speaking Belgium are expected in 2019.

The main objectives of the country reviews are:

at national level, through close cooperation of Cedefop with national stakeholders, to carry out in-depth review of apprenticeships in selected countries to identify their specific strengths and challenges and propose a set of policy recommendations for ensuring quality apprenticeships;

at European level, to increase the evidence base supporting policy- and decision-makers in European countries, at different levels, in designing and implementing policies and measures for developing and/or improving quality apprenticeships; also to support comparison across countries.

With findings from each country participating in the project, the thematic country reviews will gradually expand the knowledge on apprenticeship across Europe. They will add a high level of detail, including factors determining or hampering the success of apprenticeship initiatives in different national contexts.

With the Policy Learning Forums on Apprenticeships, Cedefop supports countries exchange and generate knowledge on apprenticeships to take their reforms and policies further. The forums may take different formats (different events, platforms for info exchanges, etc). The aim is to exchange and generate knowledge and maybe build consensus around shared problems - bring, generate more evidence to support evidence-based policy making at the national and EU levels.

Financing of apprenticeships/dual VET in the EU: the aim is to provide:

a comprehensive overview/database of the financing arrangements for apprenticeships/dual VET in 28 EU countries, which after finalisation of this assignment will become available online on Cedefop's website;

a comparative analysis of the collected data on financing arrangements for apprenticeships/dual VET.

Apprenticeships for adults: this will focus on apprenticeships as an effective way of retraining and upskilling adults to re-enter the labour market and/or boost their careers. The results will be published in 2019.

Past research:

Cross-national overview on apprenticeships: the aim was to map system level apprenticeship schemes existing in the Member States plus Iceland and Norway and carry out a comparative analysis of those schemes that meet a number of common criteria. The results of the overview were published in 2018 in a report and in an on-line database.

To strengthen and expand the knowledge on apprenticeships in Europe, the Department for Learning and Employability launched Cedefop community of apprenticeship experts. The experts’ independent and voluntary long-term collaboration is expected to improve the understanding of apprenticeship schemes and ultimately support their quality implementation in Europe.

Experts were identified through a structured process, by consulting the countries’ public bodies in charge of VET. The first meeting was held in Thessaloniki on 17 October 2018 and the virtual launching meeting followed on 13 December 2018.

So far, 29 experts confirmed their membership (one per country or sub-national level in the case of Belgium and the UK).

In 2015, Member States agreed on priorities for VET until 2020 to achieve the objectives decided in 2010 (Bruges communiqué). One of them relates directly to apprenticeships, or work-based learning more generally. Cedefop regularly reports on progress in this ‘deliverable’ and the others in collaboration with the European Training Foundation.

Planned outputs are as follows:

country-based information (EU 28+ IS+NO) on all deliverables agreed in 2015, one of them on work-based learning, including apprenticeships, others including related information;

an interim report in 2017 synthesising progress in the deliverables including issues related to apprenticeship;

a final report expected by 2020.

This work relies on qualitative and quantitative data provided by Cedefop’s ReferNet and other Cedefop work related to the deliverables. It also draws on discussions with Directors General and the Advisory Committee for vocational education and training.

Traditionally, Cedefop publishes updates of reports and concise ‘spotlights’ describing the key features of VET systems in the EU-28+IS+NO. These publications include sections on apprenticeships or similar schemes where applicable and may include relevant information in other parts. Information on apprenticeship may vary in terms of content and degree of detail, as the reports are country-driven.

The key purpose of the ET 2020 WG on VET is to respond to the objectives of ET 2020, Rethinking Education, and the Bruges Communiqué as well as the Riga conclusions of June 2015; notably the call to governments, social partners and VET providers to promote work-based learning in all its forms, with special attention to apprenticeships, and to make related policies more effective and more targeted to the labour market needs. The rationale is that promoting work-based learning, including apprenticeships, can help young people make a smoother transition from school to work, improve their employability and hence, contribute to reducing youth unemployment.

In the period 2014-2015, the focus of the ET 2020 WG on VET was on apprenticeships and work-based learning. As a result of this work, the European Commission published.

High-performance apprenticeships & work-based learning: 20 guiding principles (12/2015). This document presents 20 guiding principles developed by the ET 2020 WG on VET in 2014-2015. These principles were developed during a series of meetings, in-depth country focus workshops and webinars. Representatives of the EU Member States, EFTA countries, and Candidate Countries as well as EU Social Partner and VET Provider organisations, Cedefop and the European Training Foundation (ETF) participated in the Working Group, which was chaired by the Commission. Cedefop and external consultants have contributed to the working group through background documents and research activities.